The Sixers essentially beat themselves in Portland with a slew of turnovers, but it was a tough game, in a tough arena against a good team. A test, if you will, for a team with big plans and probably some more work to do to reach their goals. Tonight's game in Phoenix against the Suns, however, is a game they absolutely should win.
The Suns lost to New Orleans (sans Chris Paul) on Monday night, and looked pretty bad doing it. They've still got Steve Nash, who apparently will never slow down, but they don't have anyone who can even masquerade as a scorer, nor a legitimate threat on the inside on the offensive end. What they have is a bunch of shooters, and a combo up front that sort of worries me.
Marcin Gortat is an extremely active big who will eat Hawes alive on the offensive glass and at least attempt to block every shot in the paint. Channing Frye is a stretch four who can get hot from deep and put a ton of points on the board if he gets on a roll. Pretty much if you're looking for the type of bigs who will have success against the Sixers' starting front court of Hawes/Brand, it would be Gortat and Frye.
Otherwise, the Suns are a pretty sad squad without much firepower on the floor now, nor hope for the future. Their first round pick, Markieff Morris, had a decent game in the opener, and Robin Lopez was efficient in scoring 21, but take a look at their entire rotation on the perimeter: Grant Hill, Jared Dudley, Shannon Brown, Ronnie Price, Sebastian Telfair and Josh Childress. The one wildcard on their bench is Hakeem Warrick, who has given the Sixers fits in the past and presents a problem with his aggressive, athletic play at the four.
The first thing I'm looking for in this game is a win. I don't care how they do it, they just need to do it. The moral victory in Portland is meaningless, and I don't want to see this team underperforming and using excuses. Get the win. The second thing I want to see is some semblance of an offense. They ran sets last season, they ran plays. It was how they were somewhat efficient on that side of the ball. They did almost none of that against the Blazers. The Suns don't have good team defense, nor really that many solid individual defenders, and the guy guarding the point of attack is terrible. Get into your sets, run some offense.
The resilience the Sixers showed against Portland is important. It might help them turn some losses into wins against teams they really shouldn't beat, but the net result of that will be another .500 record if they can't take care of the teams they should beat. Tonight's game falls in that category.
A few notes from Monday night's game:
- LaMarcus Aldridge finished the game with 25 points on 25 shots, which is a perfect result for the Sixers. Giving him those open looks at long twos early payed huge dividends later in the game. On the night, Aldridge shot 4/13 from 16-23 feet.
- Thad was 5/5 from inside 10 feet, 0/4 from the outside.
- Hawes, Brand and Lou each attempted 5 shots from 16-23 feet to lead the team.
- Hawes' usage rate was 12% and his DREB rate was 29.1%. If he can keep those numbers right there, I'm fine with him playing 40 minutes/night
- Gerald Wallace was 7/9 in the paint, and I watched him against the Kings tonight, he was even better. That guy is a monster. Though I wish he'd cut out all the flopping.
I agree about the flopping, but he drew at least two or three offensive foul calls doing it against the 6ers
Yeah, it's effective, I just find it distasteful. Makes it hard to root for the guy when I typically love that type of player.
Well this team lost to the Hornets in their home opener if that's any indication of how good they are.
From the box score it looks like Phoenix is trying a 10 man rotation with 9 players playing at least 20 minutes. They are a deep team with a lot of former starters on their bench.
The Sixers will be able to win if they can get out on the break with Lou, Jrue, and Evan. The Suns have a very thin backcourt defensively.
Steve Nash by himself can keep his team in the game. But if he's going to play less than 30 minutes, like he did in game 1, then that will make the game that much easier for us.
Since they lost a very tough game against New Orleans I predict that they play Nash more minutes to try and get their first home win. The game will be close but I think the Sixers can hold them off.
Thad may be a good option at the 4 against Frye. Don't think Frye can handle Thaddeus when he's driving to the hoop, and maybe Thad's athleticism (compared to Brand) will help him close out on Frye on the perimeter when he's looking for the 3. On other hand, Thad hasn't shown great success in closing out on 3pt shooters in the past. Collins will need to make it a point of emphasis with him.
Hope to see another good game from Turner and for Jrue to return to form.
I'd be unsurprised if this were a loss, esp. if bad Jrue shows up.
Today, around the league, Fesenko signs with the Warriors. One more sound big we can't have. Kevin Love had a classic Kevin Love game, going to the line 24 times, pulling down 20 boards, and shooting 6-18 from the field. Derrick Williams kept putting his head down and running defenders over, but he does look like he might become a pretty good scorer one day. Rubio was less electric and more turnover-prone then last night but still looked quite sound for a 21 year-old point guard. The big news out of the MIN/MIL game, though, was Jon Leuer, the second-round pick out of Wisconsin. He had 14 and 8 and looks both skilled and fairly physical - not just a white big man who can do pick and pop. MarShon Brooks, the Nets' answer to Jordan Crawford, led the Nets with 17. Derrick Favors, last year's fouls/minutes leader, had 4 fouls in 18 minutes tonight, but was solid when he could stay on the court. Kanter got to 11 boards in 20 minutes, but made just one of his seven shots. Jimmer continues to look disturbingly like an NBA player, albeit one who's an inefficient gunner at the moment. And I went back and watched Bismack's first 6 minutes. Besides missing a few rebounds, he's remarkably raw on offense. His one stat on the box score, a turnover off a 3-second violation, came from a very awkward jump hook, which he missed, where he took about 5 seconds to maneuver and gather himself. Active and engaged on defense, though he failed to block this:
http://youtu.be/wnf0t95sr8M
Hey Brian, hope you don't mind if I posted this. I decided to start up a site where I can write about the league as a whole. The design is very raw (yuck) and the site a work in progress as a whole. I took a look at Rubio's first game last night and a couple of things I saw:
http://www.richhoops.com/?p=1
Rich
If you want some layout help ask Brian to give you my email address
No problem at all, everyone should check out the link.
Oh and in case anyone here is still entertaining any thoughts of trading for Howard, a Jrue-centered package will not work. Tonight Marc Stein reported that the Magic have no interest in young players and picks, but rather, want packages comprised of "multiple established veterans." Also, the Hawks made some progress with a proposed Johnson/Smith deal before Orlando pulled out of talks with everyone. So that may eliminate us. Certainly seems to leave the Nets in a bad spot.
http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/post/_/id/34685/what-will-magic-want-for-dwight
Even better. How about this deal:
http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=7e6ma3a
with additional three 1st round picks (2012, 2014, 2016).
That's much better than Johnson and Smith who have huge contracts IMO. It saves the Magic a ton of money AND they get high quality vets in Iguodala and Williams (they might view Hawes a quality vet too if he keeps on playing like in the first game).
And the sixers are left with a lineup of:
Holiday
Meeks
Turner
Young
Howard
and Orlandos bad contracts masquerading as a bench.
I'm pretty sure there was never any serious thought given to trading for Howard, though this report shows what an unbelievable nincompoop Otis Smith is. That roster is beyond broken and he wants veterans back? The new CBA isn't going to change a thing if these owners don't get rid of their brain dead GMs.
The thing it's not very important what the GMs think anymore (not that i think Otis Smith shouldn't be blamed). It's all about the owners of late. The owners are simply too involved in basketball decisions.
Except the owners hire the GMs who are supposed to be knowledgeable about basketball, I'm not sure where you see the owners interfering overly much except in LA
It doesn't really matter. I mean, you're giving too much credit to these idiot GMs, but the owners continue to hire them and either allow or direct them to make stupid moves. Blame the owners if you want, I'm just sick of watching teams make idiotic decisions.
I'm sick of it too, i just think it's not all the GMs fault. I get the feeling that there are at least a few GMs who have been hired only to the "dirty" work and the owners make all the important decisions.
I'm not trying to say the GMs are doing a good job, they are not, not even close for the most part.
Hey now...shouldn't we a least give Rod Thorn a chance to defend himself lol!
Thorn hasn't done anything idiotic in Philly, yet. Of course, he really hasn't done anything of note at all, but he hasn't made any terrible moves.
He was not yet hired when they traded for Hawes right?
Nope. He was busy signing Travis Outlaw for the Nets at that time, I believe. Or maybe it was Johan Petro.
Respectfully...I would argue that picking up the option on Speights was a stupid move!
Eh, picking up options on first rounders is pretty much a non-move unless you're talking about a guy like Thabeet where the option is $5M+.
On the Vegas side of the league, we are getting respect early (after finishing I believe the 2nd best ATS team in the league last year). First game we were +4.5 against a good Portland squad on the road (and barely beat the spread). Sixers open as 2 point favorites tonight in Phoenix.
What Turtlebay said. Go small, put Thad on Frye and hope Brand can box-out Gortat. Hawes can probably cover Lopez.
And, must be noted: Hakim Warrick, pride of Friends Central School (on City Line).
The missing piece?
http://www.fannation.com/truth_and_rumors/view/320774-ostertag-comeback-begins-in-d-league?eref=sihp&sct=hp_bf2_a4
the return of the legendary haircut.
I like where your head is as here! But I think Fesenko would make more sense given his age & abilities. Especially should Hawes revert back to his natural inabilities & if EB is stricken again with another case of "tired legs!"
Sorry as that should have read Fesenko would "have" made more sense...given that he signed with GS yesterday.
Just tossed that out there. Looking for reaction. Don't think it's realistic. I think he got out at the right time.